Light therapy for folks that have trouble waking up and sleeping
 

I bought a Philips goLite Blue (http://www.usa.philips.com/c-m-li/light-therapy)
and so far I noticed that it is helping me get my day started. There are other models that are geared towards sleep disorders. However, supposedly the models that emit blue light work the best.

I likely suffer from delayed onset sleep disorder and my neurological issues likely the cause. I am usually low energy, dizzy and irritable in the mornings.

About a year ago I would have been afraid to use it. However, the light isn't that bad and you don't have to look directly at it.

I'd highly recommend giving light therapy a try if you have issues waking up. Remember: Supposedly blue light works best. Also avoid blue light in the evenings.

Just curious,

What kind of sleep/awake hours do you try or need to keep ?

Do you consider yourself a night owl ? Are you most productive late ?

How long does it take you to fall asleep once you are in bed ?

When do you used the blue light ?

We had a TBI sleep specialist address our TBI support group last month. She was saying how TBI adds many challenges to the common concepts of sleep.

Just wondering where you fit in with what she told us.

Hi,

Thanks for your response.

I try to get to bed around 11 p.m. to midnight. Often it takes me 1-2 hours to fall asleep... However, I have had issues falling asleep my entire life. So my sleep issues precede my brain injury.


It's fare to say that I am usually more productive at night.


I bought the blue light about a week ago. I use it in the morning for 20 minutes to 30 minutes. So far I notice an improvement!!!

Today I had an important meeting and needed to get up at earlier and I got up on my own before 8 a.m. !!!

I work part-time and historically leave the house around 10 a.m. ... I'd love to go earlier, but usually I feel off in the morning.

Generally I am really tired and unwell in the morning. On some rare occasions I can leap out of bed.

Even during my university prior to the brain injury days I had trouble falling asleep at night...

The specialist said keep regular hours of waking up and going to bed is important for those who struggle to get to sleep, including on non-work days. Most important was not going to bed until one is sleepy. There is a difference between sleepy and fatigued. Fatigued is a body issue. Sleepy is a neuro issue.

Some need energy to wake up. A glass of orange juice as soon as one wakes can make a big difference. If one does not start the wake cycle but instead is groggy, the process of a coming sleep cycle is messed up.

Night owls and early birds is a genetic condition. A night owl will struggle to wake at 6 AM. An early bird will struggle to stay up late or sleep in. So, learning to recognize and work with this rhythm is important. But, we can mess up the system by our activity patterns. Social/job pressures can strain getting good sleep without being disciplined.

Some important concepts are:
Get up at the same time each day about 14 to 16 hours before bed time.
Getting up sets the brain for when to go to sleep.
If you stay up late on a Friday night, get up at the same time anyway.
Don't get in bed until you are sleepy. You should be able to fall asleep in 5 to 10 minutes, 30 minutes max. If you toss trying to fall asleep, get up and start the sleepy process again. The anxiety of trying to fall asleep will disrupt proper sleep.
Don't engage in cognitive activity the last hour of wakefulness. Non-stimulating media/TV/music. No smart phones during this time.
Nothing more than short casual conversations in the last hour or two.
Complete any tasks an hour before bed, including getting the bedroom ready, getting ready for bed, pajamas/hygiene, turning lights down/off, writing down notes of anything that needs attention the next day,
Have everything ready so when you feel the sleepy eyes, you can climb in bed and fall asleep.
If there are going to be bedroom 'activities' start them in time to go to sleep at the targeted time.

I know I have forgotten some of what she said but these are the most important.

The challenge is people who have suffered a brain trauma have a much greater need for proper sleep stages/cycles. Without REM and slow wave sleep cycles, the brain develops a toxic environment. The compromised brain has much less tolerance for this condition.

I did not understand these concept but developed such a system because I had to be able to go to sleep when I got in bed or I would toss and turn and end up in a poor neck position and my Central Sleep Apnea would rear its ugly head. My father died from dementia caused by 40 years of Central Sleep Apnea

I start planning for sleep at 10:00 PM and target falling asleep at 1:00 AM. I am usually asleep in less than 5 minutes. I wake without an alarm at 8:00 am feeling refreshed. If I do not fall asleep quickly, I get up until I have the sleep feeling again. Even when it takes an hour to reset the sleepy feeling and fall asleep, I tend to wake at the same 8:00 AM time. It is better for me to get the quality shorter sleep than longer restless sleep. This is to be expected.

For some of us, sleep becomes a survival discipline. It is for me. Until I learned these concepts, I was fearful of sleep because I had such chronic problems with Central Sleep Apnea. One night of sleep apnea would mess up my sleep for days. A catch-22 of can't get good sleep because I was not sleeping good.

I hope this helps.

Thanks for letting me know. This is very helpful.

Also, do you have a sleep position that works best for you. Additionally, any recommendations regarding pillows and pillow placement?

I either sleep flat on my back or if I am cold, I roll my pillow up so I can sleep on my side with my neck straight. But, I do much better on my back. If I am on my side and my pillow changes so my head droops, my apnea may start up and I will have stressful dreams. It takes work to learn to sleep in the same position. A hearing and balance specialist said that a neck forward and to the side position is very bad for vertebral artery flow.

An adjustable bed can make it much easier to learn to sleep on your back.